The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Kerry shows the world his “coalition building” skills
I was stunned yesterday when I heard what John Kerry had to say about Prime Minister Allawi. Our key strategic partner in Iraq, the man we need to work with in order to win the war there might as well have been called a Bush puppet. Bill Kristol put it very well, in an article titled “Disgraceful”:
Two days later, Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi spoke to a joint meeting of Congress. Sen. Kerry could not be troubled to attend, as a gesture of solidarity and respect. Instead, Kerry said in Ohio that Allawi was here simply to put the "best face on the policy." So much for an impressive speech by perhaps America's single most important ally in the war on terror, the courageous and internationally recognized leader of a nation struggling to achieve democracy against terrorist opposition.
But Kerry's rudeness paled beside the comment of his senior adviser, Joe Lockhart, to the Los Angeles Times: "The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips."
And obviously, other people are thinking along these same lines as well:
That’s not the conclusion you would draw from the behavior of the Kerry campaign. The Senator himself has referred to the allies fighting and working with the U.S. in Iraq as a "fraudulent coalition," a "trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and extorted" (Detroit Debate, 10/26/03 and Des Moines Register, 3/9/03). I wonder what British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his colleagues from Poland (Marek Belka), the Netherlands (J.P. Balkenende), Italy (Silvio Berlusconi), the Czech Republic (Stanislav Gross), and Australia (John Howard), among others, think of this characterization. Last I heard, you attracted more flies with honey than with vinegar. How eager will they be to partner with President Kerry (I had a hard time typing that)?
Oh, but maybe they won’t have to! John Howard, for example, is locked in a contentious election campaign with Mark Latham, his Labor Party challenger, who has promised to bring Australian forces home by this Christmas. After the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Djakarta, Indonesia earlier this month, Diana Kerry, chair of Americans Abroad for Kerry, told an Australian reporter that his country’s support for the U.S. in Iraq made it more vulnerable to international terrorism. From where I sit, this sounds like music not only to Latham’s ears, but to the ears of the terrorists who are seeking precisely to influence elections.
Are these the skills of a man who will supposedly charm the pants off of Monsieur Chirac and Herr Schroeder…enough so that they will send tens of thousands of troops to Iraq??
Finally, we have Charles Krauthammer’s piece about Kerry’s unbelievable alienation of our Australian allies. Among the points Krauthammer makes:
The terrorists' objective is to intimidate all countries allied with America. Make them bleed and tell them this is the price they pay for being a U.S. ally. The implication is obvious: Abandon America and buy your safety.
That is what the terrorists are saying. Why is the Kerry campaign saying the same thing? "John Kerry's campaign has warned Australians that the Howard Government's support for the US in Iraq has made them a bigger target for international terrorists." So reports the Weekend Australian (Sept. 18).
Kerry’s entire campaign has been about as devoid of actual policy content as is humanly possible. About the only thing that one can make out of the wealth of mixed signals coming from Kerry is that he somehow thinks he can do “better” at building coalitions. If the last two days are any indication, Kerry would not only be a miserable failure at winning new friends, he is also likely to horribly alienate our existing allies.
Two days later, Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi spoke to a joint meeting of Congress. Sen. Kerry could not be troubled to attend, as a gesture of solidarity and respect. Instead, Kerry said in Ohio that Allawi was here simply to put the "best face on the policy." So much for an impressive speech by perhaps America's single most important ally in the war on terror, the courageous and internationally recognized leader of a nation struggling to achieve democracy against terrorist opposition.
But Kerry's rudeness paled beside the comment of his senior adviser, Joe Lockhart, to the Los Angeles Times: "The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips."
And obviously, other people are thinking along these same lines as well:
That’s not the conclusion you would draw from the behavior of the Kerry campaign. The Senator himself has referred to the allies fighting and working with the U.S. in Iraq as a "fraudulent coalition," a "trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and extorted" (Detroit Debate, 10/26/03 and Des Moines Register, 3/9/03). I wonder what British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his colleagues from Poland (Marek Belka), the Netherlands (J.P. Balkenende), Italy (Silvio Berlusconi), the Czech Republic (Stanislav Gross), and Australia (John Howard), among others, think of this characterization. Last I heard, you attracted more flies with honey than with vinegar. How eager will they be to partner with President Kerry (I had a hard time typing that)?
Oh, but maybe they won’t have to! John Howard, for example, is locked in a contentious election campaign with Mark Latham, his Labor Party challenger, who has promised to bring Australian forces home by this Christmas. After the bombing of the Australian Embassy in Djakarta, Indonesia earlier this month, Diana Kerry, chair of Americans Abroad for Kerry, told an Australian reporter that his country’s support for the U.S. in Iraq made it more vulnerable to international terrorism. From where I sit, this sounds like music not only to Latham’s ears, but to the ears of the terrorists who are seeking precisely to influence elections.
Are these the skills of a man who will supposedly charm the pants off of Monsieur Chirac and Herr Schroeder…enough so that they will send tens of thousands of troops to Iraq??
Finally, we have Charles Krauthammer’s piece about Kerry’s unbelievable alienation of our Australian allies. Among the points Krauthammer makes:
The terrorists' objective is to intimidate all countries allied with America. Make them bleed and tell them this is the price they pay for being a U.S. ally. The implication is obvious: Abandon America and buy your safety.
That is what the terrorists are saying. Why is the Kerry campaign saying the same thing? "John Kerry's campaign has warned Australians that the Howard Government's support for the US in Iraq has made them a bigger target for international terrorists." So reports the Weekend Australian (Sept. 18).
Kerry’s entire campaign has been about as devoid of actual policy content as is humanly possible. About the only thing that one can make out of the wealth of mixed signals coming from Kerry is that he somehow thinks he can do “better” at building coalitions. If the last two days are any indication, Kerry would not only be a miserable failure at winning new friends, he is also likely to horribly alienate our existing allies.
